Why any questions about sex are just scraping the barrel

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Six years ago new laws were introduced to control the use of sexual history in rape trials. Did they work?

IN RAPE trials, there are wellestablished ways of attempting to discredit the complainant. One of these is to make reference in some way to her past sexual history. Few young people or adults in the 21st century have had only one sexual partner so most people have a sexual history. But in the courtroom such evidence can be made to shed a negative light on the complainant. Legislation to control the use of sexual history evidence, introduced in 1976, was too weak to have this effect, since it afforded too much discretion to the judges. Parliament did far better when